Friday, January 29, 2010

In the past two-day the weather has been getting the best of us we have not been able to shoot much. For the most part we have been sitting around waiting for the storm to clear. On the second day we (John Jackson, Jake Welch, Kurt Heine and my self) started building a jump that went over a canon when we measured it was 120 feet to the landing. By the end of the day we managed to get it done in time for john to hit it twice. The good news is he made it over the gap both times. The bad news is we will have to wait in tell it snows again to hit it again. I have a felling John is going to kill this thing. I can’t wait!!!!!

John and Jake looking off in to the distance knowing the mountains are there but wondering if it will clear?Once it cleared this is what was revealed!

John looking out over the 120 foot gap wondering what tricks were possible to do over it?We saw this sun set on are way home from the first day we went out. It was Jake Welch's Birthday I thought this was a beautiful ending to a very long day. Happy Birth day homie!Day two this is us packing up to go home for the day as the moon lit the sky above us.The days have been long 5 am to 7 or 8 pm I don't have much to show for it but I do have something to look forward too. Shooting a 120 foot gap!!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

This has been a crazy year all ready and i just started. I am shooting snowboarding again for Forum Snowboards like I do every winter but this one is off to a slow start. It is Jan 26 and I just got my first shoot. By now I should have a ton of photos and have traveled the word with there team. The snow has not been that good on top of that there has been a lot of injuries this season all ready. I think we are over the hump now it is time to get down to business. Here are some outtakes from our first 2 days in the backcountry. I can’t show all of them yet the mags would fire me. Ha-ha

John Jackson and Jake Welch get ready to head out on our first day. Look how much snow is in the trees. So sick

John and his truck I wall way hated driving my sled up that ramp. One time I all most flipped it off the side of the truck.

Look at Jake’s engagement ring he is probably thinking about his lady Torah.

John J taking a warm up run. FunJake having fun in the 4 feet of new snow.

This is a test shot to see how the lights look. I think I may of got a cover my first day shooting. imagine this photo wit a snowboarder in it. WordIt was snowing so had at the end of the day. Every time i would pull out my camera there would be a inch of snow on it. I don't think cannon recommends you do that with the 5D camera I use.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

(It is stated “innocent until proven guilty” in a court of law, but this really depends on how you look at it. When a crime is committed and you become a suspect, you are treated as if you’re guilty.)..........

It’s not the way things are supposed to be done in America. My good friend, Kandee Johnson, has been accused of ridiculous things. What bothers me about this is people are making accusations about her that are not true or are stating that she did something wrong, when she didn’t . They are people that hid behind cute, little internet names and make claims about a person who they don’t know. I call them cowards. I have known Kandee for many years and some of these people claim to know her. I would also know these people if they were really knew her. Kandee has a handful of friends that she talks to regularly and I’m proud to be one of them.

About the charges Kandee was staying at my house in LA…she was down here working because there is no work in the town she lives in. I happened to be with her at the time the incident happened. The officer’s report stated that she left her son at home alone for a day or more alone. I know for a fact that her mom was there, watching her son prior to the incident because I heard her talking on the phone with her, discussing who was going to take care of her son. Her mom did leave to head back to LA and Kandee had spoken to her son. He explained that he would be over at the neighbors’ house until her friend could come to pick him up to watch him for the rest of the time she was out of town. In the meantime, her son and his friend decided to light things on fire with hair spray. The police were called out at this time. The officer did not charge her son, but he wanted to direct his action toward the fact that the officer couldn’t figure out where the kid’s parents were.He then started interrogating the 12-year-old boy. In the report, the officer states that the boy was lying about what he had lit on fire. He then went on in his report to say he believes the kid when he said didn’t know the name of his mom’s very close friend’s name. I’m no rocket scientist, but if a sacred 12-year-old boy who knows he’s in trouble tells me he didn’t know who is supposed to be watching him I would think he is lying, to protect himself from getting in more trouble. The officer then asked if he had his mom’s phone number, the son said, “no” and the officer believed him. Once again, rocket science. The officer went through Kandee’s whole house to do this big investigation. What the officer came up with was “borderline unsanitary.” From my understanding, there was dirty dishes in the sink and the kids has left food out on the counter. He did not find any thing like drugs, alcohol, raw sewage, rats and roaches, or anything other thing that would be considered “child endangerment.” With all the fine police work being done he never even called Kandee to talk to her and find out what was really going on. Kandee’s grandparents showed up and took her son with them and notified her of the situation. The office never tried to contact either of the boy’s parents. He wrote a report based on a kid that already admitted to lying to him. Kandee called the officer just moments after she found out what happened. I could hear the officer talking to her. He did not want to listen to her or even let he tell her side of the story. My thought is he was embarrassed because he had been had by a 12 year old boy. The reason I say this is, her son was not charged with anything. He had outwitted a grown man. The sad thing about this is, now, she has to face the court taking her kids away. For what? Being at work and your kid getting into trouble? I remember being at parties in high school when my friend’s parents were out of town. There were underage kids drinking and the police showed up. The house was trashed. Never once did any of the parents face charges like this. The bottom line is, kids misbehave. You have to use some judgment when you charge someone with stuff like this. The sad thing is, there are kids that do need this protection and the people who are in charge of it, can’t even do their job right.

Another thing that bothers me is, people do not ever search for the truth. They just assume someone is guilty. They want to believe it more than the truth. The story got leaked to the press and again, no one contacted Kandee. She tried to contact them and the editor hung up the phone on her. People just don’t want to do their jobs. They just want to point fingers and make accusations. She finally got through and someone took down a short statement. The funny thing is, there is an amazing story here. It’s about a mother who is taking care of three kids, with no financial help from anyone. She refused to be a victim and worked every waking moment and took care of her kids, which at the same time adds up to 18+ hrs a day. Her life had not been easy but through positive thoughts and hard work, she is on her way to turning things around. Because Kandee has the most amazing fans that love her dearly, they offered to donate money to help her. She set up a PayPal account at their request. She managed to get just enough to pay for the first installment for her attorney. How’s this for a story but the news want to just take the easy way and report the negative even if it is not the truth. Finding the truth takes work. But then again, they are journalists and part of that is to get the whole story. So, do your job. You might enjoy what you find out.

In my opinion, Kandee should be getting an award for her dedication to her kids. I have never seen a more loving mom. One of the things she told me that sticks out in my head is, “I would do anything for my kids. I just want them to be able to have the opportunities that I never did. That is why I’m doing all of this.” She also said, “I will make it. My family has no choice.” That is why Kandee is one of my closest friends. She has the biggest heart and is by far the nicest person I have ever met. I read a comment that said the way she is on the Internet is not how she is in real life. I agree. She is more amazing in real life. Kandee is an inspiration and has given hope to millions through her YouTube, Facebook and Blog posts. Only someone who does not really know her would say some things bad about her. So, yes, Kandee is guilty. She is guilty of being a good mom, friend, and human being.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Some times wish I could fly. I was in Syracuse NY to shoot snowboarding and there was no snow. It rained the day before we showed up. While we were driving around looking for snow I keep seeing all these birds every were . Some how I ended up shooting a photo essay on birds. It’s kind of cool I hope you like it.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The project is called, “The Gang.” This is a project about taking one person from three of LA’s infamous gangs (The Bloods, The Crips, and the Surenos) and putting them together to start a rap group. The amazing part about my friend Te Money’s project is everything. Let me explain. There has never been a group that has had different gang members in it. It is unheard of to the best of my knowledge. I can see how amazing this idea is using music to bring people together that otherwise would be enemies, and making something positive out of the two very raw elements of rap and gangs. My part in all this is, I have a friend named Ania in the building where I live, who approached me about shooting something for this project. When I heard about it, I was down to do it.

The day of the shoot, I showed up to an alley off of La Brea Ave. My assistant and I were basically the only two white people there. I knew that I would be shooting three different gangs in the same location at the same time, but in the back of my mind, I didn’t know if I was going to get shot. Haha whatever. As everyone started to show up, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I could sense a mellow vibe. Usually, bringing just any two of these gangs together, let alone three, would cause serious problems, but this time, due to the project, everyone came together to do something positive for the sake of music.

So, I just started shooting photos. I had the feeling that these guys had never really been on a photo shoot before. So I started shooting photos to make everyone feel comfortable and have fun with it. About an hour went by and we got into the actual shot that they wanted for this project. We were out on the street and maybe I got too relaxed. I went into “whiteboy mode” and said something like, “Can you show my your gang signs?” or something like that in a whiteboy voice. Ania called me out so fast in front of everyone, saying, “What the fuck did you just say? You better say it right!” She then said, “You better tell them to motherfucking represent their hood!” It’s funny, but that’s how it went down and that shit was a tight ass shoot.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

An amazing moment from 2006. This photo of Shaun White was so hard for me to capture. I was sent to the 2006 Olympics to shoot the snowboarding, but no one got me a press pass. This put me in a bit of a predicament. I wanted to go but I did not know how it was going to work. When I arrived in Italy, I had no idea that I was going to have to fight my way to get in everywhere I went. It was at the finals for the snowboarding and I managed to get in but I had no press pass. I knew there was nothing that was going to stop me from getting my photos. I kept pushing my way forward and jumping fences. The police at one point grabbed me from the back of my jacket. I used the language barrier and said something in English hoping they would not understand. I then jerked his hand off of me and just kept going. I think my reaction threw them off and they let me keep going, as if I was supposed to be there. In my mind, I was. All these other photographers that had no idea how to shoot snowboarding and it made me upset. They have no concept of what this sport is about. The photos they were producing were of a guy in the sky and they were not even grabbing their board. I would be like if I was at the Super Bowl and I shot photos of just the football.

It is strange that this was not the cover of Transworld Snowboarding Mag when they ran the Olympic story. They used a photo of someone jumping over a chain link fence. Shaun is a household name and he just received a gold medal in the OLYMPICS!!! I just laughed when they told me how magazine sales are down.

This was the first year I had the chance to work with Danny Kass. Danny is one of the most talented snowboarders I have ever met. He is what you call a natural. The best part of it all was no one even thought he was going to qualify for the Olympics. He ended up getting a silver medal.

This is from the practice before the actual contest. Everywhere I looked, people were throwing down crazy tricks. I knew the contest was going to be amazing.

After the Olympics, I spent the rest of the year shooting with Danny. I got to know him a lot better and he is one of the coolest people I know. I saw Danny on New Years this year and he told me the year we worked together was one of the best time he had in his career. He was also thankful for everything. It was one of the biggest compliments I could of received.

I had no idea what to expect at the Olympic ceremonies. The show was so amazing I could never describe it. You would have had to have been there. All I can say is, it was so beautiful. This crazy feeling came over me where I started getting all teary eyed. I felt all the love in the air. There were people there from every county and we were all together as one.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Here Is a look at the enabled art show thanks to Fuel TV. This was a show the featured nine disabled athletes. I have been working on this project for all most 4 years now. I hope that this will bring hope and inspiration to every one who see it. Remember to allwasy fallow your dreams. I would like to thank every one involved in the making of this project.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

It’s the start of a new year 2010! When was a young boy (8 years old) I thought the year 2010 was going to be some thing crazy. My thoughts were cars would be flying and we would be living like the jettisons. I also remember wondering what I was going to be when I grew up. There were 3 jobs I was stoked on a Fire Fighter, Scientist, and an Artiest. Fire was my first love. I don’t know how my house did not burn down. I was all ways lighting stuff on fire. I would make bond fires in my back yard my sister told me she could see the flames from her friends house. School was not my favorite thing the way things were thought just did not click with me. From the age of 8 in tell high school I would only go to school 2 or 3 days a week. For some reason I all was loved math and science. My second cousin is a physics teacher I use to ask him question and talk about science all the time. Then he got me a chemistry set and mad science projects went down. That was the best thing ever. Maybe that’s why I like Einstein so much. Art was contently around me because of my mom. I grew up looking at vogue magazines the photos were so amazing. Looking back on my child hood it make sense that I do what I do. In some way or another as a photographer I do all three.

This mount was a blue Moon. I shoot this photo a cave rock in Lake Tahoe I am very up set with my self over this one. It looks ok for the blog but it is a little soft (the Focus). You cant just re shoot things like this because the moon is only full every 28 days.Red Lakes 1:45 amSilver Lake 11:00 pm

This project is going to be very difficult. I am not getting the photos I'm looking for and messing thing up doesn't help ether. I only have so many chances it on now!!!